Chapter 14
Sette
“Thank you for your bid in the interest of Miss June. We are writing to inform you…”
Sette lowered the letter as soon as she was done reading it. So, another person was interested in her muse? Somehow, that didn’t surprise her… yet she was annoyed all the same.
It wasn’t a matter of money. Yes, already promising thirty grand a month was huge, especially for her, but it wasn’t like she didn’t have the money. She just wasn’t used to spending so much of it at once, regularly, and on one person. For $30,000 a month, she could pay off some poor student’s loans. What was the fun in that?
She had thought long and hard about it. Sometimes too long, and too hard. Whenever Sette had her bearings again, she reminded herself that thirty grand a month wasn’t bad when she was already spending that once a week to be with her every time she visited. The penny-pincher in her constantly remindedher conscience that she could save thousands by keeping things restrained and careful, but then her conscience retorted with,“Then what’s the point?”She had gone too far. She knew what it was like to make love to June. There was no going back.
Still, bidding higher made Sette uneasy. The letter stipulated that increased bids went in $5,000 intervals, so she had to bid at least $35,000 to be taken seriously.Still cheaper than seeing her at the standard rate.Sette hated thinking of June like that, but she had to be practical. She was spending a shitton of money on June. Money that she didn’t have to spend if she found love the old-fashioned way.
It’s not love, dumbass.
Yet when she looked at the paintings in her studio, she couldn’t help but think that there was something more than a mere relationship between professional and client.
Or maybe June really was that good. There was a reason why women like Sette were lining up to buy her, after all.
This is practical.If she was going to continue using June as a muse and get some extra benefits on the side, then it only made sense to become a patron. It would save her money, and she could take her June from her fancy house. That was important to an artist. She wouldn’t be happy with painting June on that estate for the rest of her life. She would want to bring her to the studio. Maybe the gallery opening, if there was one.Fuck it.She wanted to take June to the coast, to the mountains, to Vancouver, and to Puerto Vallarta. Her family had their own private jet she sometimes borrowed. Why couldn’t she have June there, too?
Yes, this was the practical thing to do. Better than the hundred grand she would soon owe the Manoir for bending her model over for a month. That didn’t include the modeling fees!
She picked up her phone and dialed Monique’s business number. All Sette could do was raise her bid and hope the other fool didn’t care about June as much as she did.
“Holy shit.” Zara gasped upon entering her friend’s studio on Wednesday morning. “You’ve done all these in two weeks?”
“Is that fast?” Sette was grinning.
“Is that… you bitch! Are you on speed or crack or what?” She didn’t wait for Sette to answer. “Worse. You’re high on this woman.”
Sette didn’t like the tone in her voice. She sat by the largest window in her studio, overlooking a green courtyard between her townhouse and the neighboring apartment building. “She is my muse. That tends to be how it works.”
“You’re playing with some serious fire,” Zara continued, as if Sette cared a single iota about her opinion on the matter. “She’s notanywoman, Sette. She’s not even the usual warnings against model types.”
“You might as well stop right there.” She didn’t need to hear this.
“Why? I don’t think you’ve realized what you’re doing.”
“What am I doing?”
Zara looked her square in the eye, a serious demeanor that did not suit her crossing her face. “You’re falling for an escort, to put it lightly. Don’t you get it? She’s not your girlfriend. She never will be your girlfriend, unless she quits her job, I guess. Don’t count on it, though. I saw those girls there. They’ve got a good thing going. Unless they want out anyway, they’re not likely to run off even with a rich doctor like you.”
Sette turned away. “Didn’t realize I had asked for your unsolicited advice. Please. Give me the benefit of a doubt here. First of all, I’m not in love with her. I barely know her.”
“I’ll say.”
“Second, I know what relationship we have. I pay for her time and, yes, her services.”
“Expensive services. You won’t even buy a new car because you think it’s too expensive, and you could pay cash. Seriously, you’ve got more than one thing for this woman if you’re shelling out thousands of dollars to spend a few afternoons with her.”
“Hey, stay out of it, would you? If I want your advice, I will ask for it.”
Zara shook her head, but not before turning toward the finished portraits lining one wall. “This woman has done wonders for your work, that’s true.”
“But?” Might as well let her have it.
“But don’t let her ruin your personal life. There’s no point to having a great art career if a woman’s breaking your heart and wallet.”
